Mountains
by Montydragon
Summary: In the mountains of Oregon, two people are lost. With only each other to depend on, they must find their way home.
1. Chapter 1

**Mountains**

**Chapter One**

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><p>"Come on, Dipper! We gotta get there before the sun sets!"<p>

Dipper looked up from his journal to where Wendy was packing up the golf cart. She smiled at him before literally throwing the tent in the back. "You got all your stuff?" she added.

"Yeah," Dipper replied, stuffing the journal into his bag. He hastily threw his backpack on his shoulders before running over to where the redhead was getting the keys. He tossed his sleeping bag and pack into the back before hopping into the passenger seat.

"See you in two days!" Mabel shouted from the Stanley Mobile. Grunkle Stan just grunted a polite "see ya" while Dipper's sister waved frantically. The small detective watched as they drove away, leaving dust in their trail.

The silence was broken as Wendy tapped his shoulder while getting into the driver's seat. "You might run into them at the campsite," she mused, putting on her seatbelt.

"Hopefully not," Dipper replied, grinning. As the two pulled out of the Mystery Shack driveway, the goat let out a loud complaint at them leaving. The boy reminded himself that Soos was staying behind, and would provide enough food to all the animals in the area while they were off camping.

When they were about halfway there, Dipper began to ponder what exactly had happened in the hours that had preceded that moment. It had seemed like such a blur at the time, but now that he was feeling rather bored, he could recall everything in almost haunting detail.

At around seven in the morning, Mabel had taken a running jump onto Dipper's bed, ending his peaceful rest and putting him in a seemingly infinite bad mood. Upon seeing his glare, Mabel shouted at the top of her lungs that Stan was taking them camping with Grenda and Candy.

Dipper hadn't even acknowledged the information at first. Brain dead from lack of sleep, he had stumbled into the kitchen and started pouring a hearty amount of orange juice into his cereal. Grunkle Stan had then waltzed in, eager to catch the morning rush of tourists, and confirmed that Dipper was apparently going to be camping with three pre-teen girls for two days. In the middle of the woods. With no adult besides Grunkle Stan, but he didn't really count in Dipper's eyes.

Dipper had choked down his delicious orangy cereal before going to work in the shop. He could tell immediately upon arriving in the shack that he wasn't the only one who was extremely tired. Wendy was actually asleep at the counter, snoring away and drooling on the cash register, while Soos was staring out the window in an almost unconscious way.

He barely made it through the morning. Stan came in again at lunch break, and Dipper immediately confronted him. Even around five hours later, Dipper could still remember the slight argument perfectly.

"Why do I have to go camping with them?" Dipper had moaned, absentminded poking a sandwich in the general direction of his mouth.

"Because I already reserved the campsite. Or campsites, rather. They had this deal where you could get two campsites instead of one for the same price, so I did it," Stan replied.

"What are we even going to do with an extra campsite?"

"If any bears attack, we'll tie them up there until we leave," Stan reasoned, smirking. He pulled off his eyepatch and started counting the change in the cash register.

"Couldn't I just camp in the other campsite?" Dipper asked hopefully.

"Sorry, kid. The other campsite's like a mile from the one we're staying at. You'd need someone older to stay with you."

Dipper pouted and stared at the floor. Grunkle Stan looked down at him. "Kid, I'd let you stay there alone, but I don't want to get in trouble with the park ranger like I did a few years ago after I tried smuggling a rare rabbit out."

The young detective didn't look up. Soos looked at him in slight sympathy, but Grunkle Stan growled, "Leave him. He'll be ok."

"Hey, Mr. Pines, I could go with Dipper," Wendy offered from her seat near the roof entrance. "I fixed up the golf cart, so I could drive him to the campsite, and I could bring an extra tent, too."

Grunkle Stan raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Wendy, you sure?" he asked uneasily. "You know, the kid's real superstitious about the woods and everything…"

"I can deal," Wendy answered dismissively. "But if Dipper doesn't want me to take him, then it's his decision."

"No, that'd be awesome!" Dipper hastily broke in. "I mean, how many camping trips have you been on?"

"Hundred and seven," Wendy replied casually.

"See? She could totally take me, Grunkle Stan!" the young detective exclaimed, trying to make puppy eyes. Stan looked down at him in confusion and slight disgust.

"Egh. Sure, fine, you can take him camping," the shack owner gave in. "Just don't let him die or anything, 'cause that'd be a bunch of paperwork and I don't want to get involved in that."

"You have my word, Mr. Pines," Wendy saluted. "Just let me go confirm it with my dad. I need to get that extra tent, too."

On Wendy's way out of the shack, Dipper had tackled her from behind in a huge hug. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" he cheered. "Oh, this is going to be awesome! Now I don't have to worry about Grenda stealing my snacks or Candy trying to read over my shoulder…"

Wendy just grinned, bending down so Dipper was no longer hanging off her shoulders. "Glad to help, buddy," she smiled. "I'll be back in like twenty minutes with my stuff."

Dipper dropped off Wendy's back and waved to her while she walked off into the woods. As soon as she was out of sight, the young detective gave a loud squeaking noise out of pure joy. He practically _skipped_ back into the shack, grinning ear to ear.

"Whoa, bro bro, what's up?" Mabel asked, trotting into the gift shop. "I haven't seen you this happy since… ever!"

"Oh, nothing, it's just I'm _not_ going camping with you guys after all!" Dipper announced happily.

"What? How? I thought Grunkle Stan said you had to go!" his sister replied surprisedly, her eyes widening dramatically.

"Nah, _Wendy_ said she'd take me to the extra campsite so I didn't have to stay," Dipper beamed. He noticed the sudden smirk appear on Mabel's face and felt himself growing red. "No, no, not like that…"

"You haven't gotten over Wendy, have you?" Mabel snickered. Dipper's blush spread under his hair.

"Um…"

"You haven't! I KNEW it!" Mabel nearly shouted. She was within a foot of Dipper in an instant, smiling smugly at his face.

"Look, ok, you're right!" Dipper whispered loudly, averting his eyes. "Just don't go screaming it to the whole shack!"

Mabel grinned and vaulted over the counter. "It's totally like you have a date!" she declared. "You two, all alone in the woods, stuffing your faces with marshmallows…"

Dipper tried to tune out his sister's enthusiastic speech for the rest of lunch break, but he realized as soon as Wendy returned that he would never get the half hour of his life back. The rest of the afternoon he spent packing pretty much all his possessions into his small, brown backpack and trying to find food he could bring in the kitchen. Of course, Wendy had found some marshmallows and chocolate in the back of her pantry, while Dipper tracked down the stalest unopened box of graham crackers known to humanity underneath a table in the living room.

Not much more had happened in the time since that and his departure from the Mystery Shack. Dipper sighed and stared at the trees rushing by as Wendy casually obliterated the speed limit. The campsite was thirty minutes away by car, but an hour away by golf cart, even driven by somebody with as little regard for rules as the young detective's love interest.

They finally arrived around six thirty. Wendy pulled into the parking lot and tossed the keys into her pack before pulling out her stuff. She pushed Dipper's belongs towards him before starting towards the hiking trail. Dipper was smiling until he saw the sign.

_Campsite and Cliff Overlook: 2 miles_

"Aw man," Dipper moaned.

"What?" Wendy asked, looking over her shoulder.

"I kind of suck at hiking," Dipper admitted. He looked at the ground and scruffed up the dirt with his shoe. Wendy backpedaled and took the bag of food from him, so the only things he was holding were his sleeping bag and pack.

"You can't be that bad," she grinned. "Besides, it's only two miles. How hard can that be?"

One hour later, Wendy was looking down the trail to where Dipper was wheezing and plodding along. "I take it back! You're actually kind of bad at this!"

"Y… you think?" Dipper panted. He caught up with the lumberjack girl before collapsing into a rock on the side of the path.

"Come on, dude, we have like a third of a mile to go!" Wendy called, shaking his shoulders before hauling him back into a standing position. "On your feet, soldier!"

Dipper laughed weakly. "Ok, I'm going," he replied, starting up the trail again after Wendy. He gazed at the daunting hill he would have to top before arriving at the campsite, and sighed. _You literally asked for this._

Wendy was at the top of the hill in seconds, looking down at the young detective, who was moving at a snail's pace. He arrived a few minutes after her, clutching his sides and staring down at the great climb he had just achieved. "All downhill from now on, dork," Wendy laughed.

They finally got to the campsite just as the sun disappeared over the edge of the mountains. Dipper looked at the small fire pit, the close-growing trees they could tie up their food in, and mostly the great cliffside overlook. "Don't you think camping next to a cliff is kinda dangerous?" he asked, peering over the side. He could see a tiny stream at the bottom.

"As long as we set up in the trees, we should be ok," Wendy replied hesitantly. "But you're right… I wonder why your uncle even rented this place. At least it's not at the very top of the mountain. It's more like we're halfway up."

Dipper nodded and started to throw a rope over a high branch in one of the trees. Once it was securely knotted, he tied the bag of food to the end and hoisted it up, out of any other predator's reach. Smiling at his handiwork, he hopped over to where Wendy was pulling the tent out of her pack.

The two put up the large, orange tent without too much difficulty. They were missing a bunch of stakes, so Wendy ended up hammering in only two of them on the side facing the cliff. Dipper was still worrying over the safety, but his friend easily consoled him while using a large stone to pound the last stake in. As soon as that was done, the unusual pair went off into the woods to find some dry kindling.

Dipper crossed a small river several times while gathering the twigs. The water was sluggish and curled around the rocks lazily, but there were several sticks he could have used that were soaked thanks to the current. It got around three feet deep in the middle, so the young detective ended up walking across a fallen tree to cross.

Soon, the stars were out and the fire was roaring. Wendy rubbed her hands and held them up to the fire eagerly, looking over at Dipper, who was doing the same. The remnants of the several hot dogs they had tried to roast burned in the fire, while the few they had succeeded with had been eaten up quickly. Dipper had gotten out the marshmallows, but they lay wrapped on the log they used as a bench for later.

"Nice night out, huh?" Wendy asked, staring up at the remarkably clear sky.

"Yeah," Dipper murmured. He absentminded felt his hand creeping across the log to where Wendy's was. He felt a slight shock as she reached out and gently rested her fingers on top of his.

"So, you want to roast these marshmallows?"

"Sure."

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><p><strong>AN: Well, guys, it's happened. I'm officially a faller. Don't freak out or anything, I still like Teen Titans, but I've decided to take a bit of a break from them. I may be one to let an inspirational thought go to waste, but I'm not one to waste a huge buttload of them.**

**Just so you know, this is written after the events of Into The Bunker. I know, I know, they supposedly decided to stay friends in that one, but I get the feeling that Dipper's crush isn't going away that easily. Besides, we all totally know that they might start liking each other a little later in life. This is just a fanfiction, guys. This is something I imagine could happen.**

**Well, peace out until next chappie!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Mountains**

**Chapter Two**

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><p>Dipper ended up burning his fingers before getting to eat the marshmallows. He discovered that although sticking the stick as far as he could into the fire roasts the marshmallow, it also roasts something far less comfortable.<p>

Wendy wasn't much better when it came to toasting the sugary treats, though she was certainly better than Dipper. She seemed to know the exact time to pull it out of the fire, but by then, the bottom was usually blackened and covered in bright flames. She blew them out and ate them with a hearty amount of chocolate anyway.

Soon, the fire was dwindling and the stars were out. The moonlight was brilliant that night, and lit up the landscape with a cold luminescence. The few clouds they could see approaching on the horizon shimmered with the pale light. The pine trees were outlined with the beginnings of dew, while the patchy grass on the ground positively glittered with it.

However, as the night grew more radiant, the temperature dropped with it dramatically. Dipper and Wendy had soon pulled out their sleeping bags and were huddling inside them beside the coals. The air had to be less than sixty degrees. Their noses were red and their fingers stiff, but they were laughing and joking around all the same.

"Ok, ok, so what if Stan actually caught something and let it loose in the Shack?" Wendy choked out, snuggling deeper into her sleeping bag. "Like, a baby dragon or something. I mean, either all the tourists would run away or they'd just stand and watch while it destroyed everything."

"They'd totally just stand and watch," Dipper laughed. "Everyone who goes to the Shack is kinda an idiot, so…"

"Definitely," Wendy chuckled back. She looked over at the tent before peering at a watch she'd brought along. She sighed. "Ok, dude, we should be getting to bed soon if we even want to wake up in the morning. I'm hitting the sack."

"Same here," Dipper replied quickly. "You know, so we'll wake up around the same time."

"Gotcha," Wendy smiled. She hopped over to the tent flap in her sleeping bag and pulled back the zipper. Her younger friend bounded through the small door and crashed in one of the corners of the tent. She followed him before zipping the entrance back up and settling on the floor a few feet from him.

"Goodnight, Wendy," Dipper murmured, burrowing into his sleeping bag and closing his eyes.

"'Night, Dipper," the lumberjack's daughter called back. She stared through the screen flap on one side of the tent and gazed up at the slightly cloudy sky. Smiling tiredly, Wendy pulled herself as far into her sleeping bag as she could and fell asleep.

**GF**

"Dipper… Dipper, come on…"

Dipper murmured inaudibly and snuggled deeper into his sleeping bag. He could faintly hear Wendy calling his name, and reached one hand out to softly brush her away.

"DIPPER! GET UP! NOW!"

The young detective's eyes shot open. The first thing he saw was Wendy's bright green pair of eyes staring panickedly into his. She yanked him into a sitting position and released his shoulders, grabbing his stuff and throwing it onto her own back.

"Wha… What's going on…"

"Storm," Wendy replied anxiously. Dipper could see she was desperately trying to keep calm. "We aren't in any serious danger, it isn't too close. But we _need_ to get out of this tent. _Now_."

"Why?" the younger boy found himself mumbling. He was abruptly lifted onto his feet by the redhead, who then packed his sleeping bag up with almost ninja-like speed.

"The wind's blowing us closer to the cliff," she answered breathlessly. With that, she grabbed his arm and pulled him through the tent flap.

It was completely dark outside. Dipper acquired his pack from Wendy, who wasted no time in yanking her own sleeping bag into a bundle and starting to run down the trail in a sprint. He had no idea how she could see in such an obsidian space.

"Dipper, we have to get off this cliff!" The younger boy winced as she nearly screamed at him. He could only see her outline in the dark, waving to him frantically and doing an anxious sort of scruffing with her feet. He ran over to her before feeling her hand seize his. He flinched at the slight pain. With that, they were off.

Because Dipper had neglected to bring a flashlight, they were in pitch blackness for most of the muddy, desperate run. Wendy never let go of him, but she was relentlessly fast and splashed up grime without many other regards. At some point, they veered off the path and began to bolt through the trees. Although both of them thought about getting home at one point or another, neither of them paid much mind as long as they were running from the danger.

Suddenly, Dipper felt water lapping around his ankles. It was the river he had crossed earlier, swollen with the rain. He couldn't stop running with the pure adrenaline rushing through his veins, but the liquid was ice cold and he was already chilled to the bone. Besides, he could feel rocks under his socked feet and didn't want to damage himself any worse than he already had. He was stuck.

The young boy gasped as he felt powerful arms wrapping around him, lifting him above the ground. He heard Wendy grunt behind him before leaping into the water, wading through the river as fast as she could while carrying him.

The current was incredibly strong. At the part where the water was deepest, Dipper could feel Wendy struggling to move. With a pack, sleeping bag, food and roughly 90 pound boy clinging desperately to her chest, he could easily see why. But he realized that the reason she was trying to go so fast was because of the risk of electricity in the water. They were in more danger here than they were on the cliff.

Soon, the redhead was crawling onto the pebbles of the shore. Dipper detached himself hastily from her shirt before resuming a panicked pace at her side. They couldn't see a thing in the darkness, but both knew that they had to get to the lowest altitude possible, away from the lightning and cliffs.

Finally, the wild dash came to an end. Neither Dipper nor Wendy could go on any longer. Dipper let out a quiet breath as he felt the great girl fall to the ground beside him, slumping against a tree and releasing their packs. He collapsed beside her and felt her shiver as everything went blacker than it was already.

He woke up several times, each for only moments before lapsing back into unconsciousness. He could remember flashes of things, like Wendy's long red hair lying dirty and wet in the mud, or the lightning overhead. Nothing stuck with him, though, and exhaustion always overtook him before the need to investigate did.

Morning came after the longest, coldest night of Dipper's life unforgivingly. It was still raining, but the light drizzle contained no electricity or thunder. He could barely move his limbs, and his gaze was hazy and unfocused for the first few moments. The first thing that caught his eye was the nearly lifeless form of his best friend.

She was lying in the mud, unmoving save for the threateningly slow rise and fall of her sides. Her flannel shirt was stained and gritty, and part of her jeans had been ripped clean off. He could see she was clinging to his vest, which he had taken off the night before.

Reaching out a tentative hand, Dipper groaned out, "Wendy, wake up." He slowly patted her arm before tugging her sleeves anxiously. She still didn't move.

Dipper hauled himself out of the mud and started to shake the pale lumberjack girl, his expression growing more and more stricken. "Come on, just get up!" he pleaded. He felt of huge breath of relief escape him as she shifted beneath his hands, shrugging him away and moaning softly as she was dragged into consciousness.

_Oh thank God_, Dipper thought. He slowly pulled her into an upright position and watched her rub her eyes. She stared down at him blearily before groaning.

"Uh… What happened?" she mumbled. Her eyes widened slightly before she dropped his vest and finished her statement. "Oh. Right."

"Um… thanks for helping me across the river there," Dipper remarked gratefully. He wasn't about to admit that he probably couldn't have crossed it without help, especially with his under-average height.

"No problem," Wendy smiled weakly. She handed him his vest and looked at the remains of their camping supplies. "We're out of marshmallows," she groaned, looking into the food pack.

"Do we even have something to eat?" Dipper asked hopefully, looking over her shoulder. His older friend pulled out a stack of six granola bars, an apple and a bag of potato chips. They were silent for a moment.

"Call dibs on the chips," Wendy grinned at last. She stretched out a leg and winced. "Oooh, that hurts."

"So, I guess we should try to find the main trail soon," Dipper yawned, staring dubiously up the broken path they had stumbled down. He remembered falling down countless times, only to have his adrenaline-fueled friend haul him up and keep running.

"We have a long way to go," Wendy replied, almost as though she could read his thoughts. "Especially since we'll be going uphill." A sudden look of worry came over her face and she covered her eyes with her hands. "Ugh, your uncle is going to kill me."

Dipper looked up at her curiously. "Why?"

His friend gave him an almost concerned look. "Well, we're lost in the woods, the tent's gone, we nearly died getting across a river and we're probably going to get hypothermia tonight," she joked weakly. "I checked the forecast yesterday. It's going to get down to the forties."

The young boy shivered. "Really?"

Wendy's smile faded. "Yeah, really," she murmured. She stared up the trail before reaching down and grabbing her pack. She lifted his into the air and gently handed it to him. "Come on, dorkus. The sooner we get out of here, the better."

Dipper clambered to his feet and followed as his love interest picked up the food with one hand. As soon as they were set, the two started to walk through the soaking landscape in hopes of finding the trail again.

By the time noon came, the duo was even more soaked than they had been before, and unbelievably cold. Dipper figured that if this is what it felt like when the air was around sixty degrees, he most certainly wouldn't be warm tonight. Wendy wasn't doing much better. Her normally slightly pale skin looked almost paper white in the dim of the rain.

Finally, they came across a small clearing. At one end, there was an opening in the trees that looked almost like the entrance to the trail. Wendy sat on a fallen log on the right of the opening and pulled out her claimed bag of chips. She tossed a granola bar at the younger boy, who settled beside her and began to eat.

When their impromptu lunch was consumed, Dipper and Wendy started down the path. Neither spoke, but there was a silent agreement between them that they wouldn't stop walking until they reached what could be considered a trail. Though the sun was never visible, they could feel it getting later and later into the day until the sky finally started to darken. They had still not reached the trail by this time, and both were shivering violently. "Ok, time for a fire," Dipper finally murmured, flopping onto a rock beside the trail.

"Agreed," Wendy replied. She surveyed the surroundings with a frown. "Nothing here is dry, though."

Dipper sighed. "Do we have anything we can burn?" Without waiting for an answer, he peered into his pack and started rummaging through the contents. After a minute, he looked up and shook his head. "Nothing here."

"There isn't anything in my pack, either," Wendy moaned. She looked at the rock Dipper was perched on. "We're going to have to make a tent out of our sleeping bags if we don't want to get bothered by animals."

The young boy shuddered. "That's going to be very, very cold," he declared, rubbing his arms. He grabbed a tiny flashlight keychain and shined it around the area, looking at the surrounding woods in the fading glimmers from the clouds. He could make out a few sticks that they might be able to use in the creation of a tent. He got up off the rock and walked a few feet, grabbing a thick but wet branch and bringing it back to his friend.

Wendy smiled. "We can totally do this," she encouraged him. "I'm totally sure we can find the trail tomorrow, too."

Dipper gave a weak grin back and dropped the branch to the ground. Together, the two began to prepare for their second night out in the cold, unforgiving wilderness.

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><p><strong>AN: And there we go! Chapter two! Thank you to everyone who is supporting me so far. Next chapter, we **_**might**_ **get a little fluffy goodness, and definitely some action with these two trying to survive. Montydragon, out!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Mountains **

**Chapter Three**

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><p>The night came far sooner than either one of the two lost souls could have expected. One minute Dipper and Wendy were trying to burn soaked, rotting wood, and the next they could barely see each other in the blanketing darkness.<p>

The stars were not out that night. Every light was obscured by the endless layers of cloud, even the moon. The two ended up using the keychain flashlight from Dipper's pack to practically illuminate their every move. They shared the apple that Wendy had brought along for dinner, chewing it slowly as though they could make believe it was larger than it actually was. After the slightly bruised fruit was eaten up, Wendy finally broke the awkward silence.

"We have to make some sort of tent," she murmured quietly, opening up her sleeping bag and tying a corner to a low branch of a tree. The young detective at her side brought an armload of heavy stones and placed them neatly on the other corners, pulling the unzipped insulation taut. He undid his own bag and handed it to her.

Wendy gave him a small smile in the darkness before knotting the drawstring of his sleeping bag around another branch, pulling the rest over the gaps they had left with her's. Dipper grabbed another three stones and pinned the corners to the ground. They now had the most pathetic tent in history, but it would serve for a night.

The lumberjack girl tied their packs up in another tree before taking off her boots at the entrance to the sleeping bag tent. She crawled inside, Dipper on her tail, and settled at the base of the tree. He curled up a few centimeters from her and pulled off his hat, using it as a pillow. She grinned sleepily at him before removing her uncomfortably damp flannel and doing the same.

"Sleep well, Dipper," she mumbled to him. Her body suddenly quivered with the cold, and she winced.

"You too, Wendy," he answered sleepily.

Gradually, the silence took hold of the small nook at the foot of the great tree. The night wore into blinding darkness, but still neither of the two friends could fall asleep. As a matter of fact, Wendy felt more on edge than she could recall in her life. Her body constantly prickled with the dropping temperature, and she could feel her fingers starting to twitch anxiously. She knew this feeling.

Staring through the darkness, Wendy could just barely make out the outline of Dipper's form. He was still huddled in a tiny ball, but didn't look as cold as her. However, the speed of his breathing betrayed that the young detective was still very much awake.

She sighed and turned back onto her back. Reaching out, she pulled her flannel back on. She could go without a pillow, but it was so cold by now that her arms felt fiery and frozen at the same time. She needed to stay warm.

_Dipper doesn't have any kind of long-sleeved clothing with him_, Wendy reminded herself. Even so, as she looked back at his quivering form, he didn't seem to be in any visible discomfort. She considered moving over to give him a small hug or something, just some sort of contact to keep him warm, but he might not like that. Especially after she had "rejected" him during the whole shapeshifter incident.

Another forceful bout of shivering took hold of Wendy's body, and she clenched her teeth to keep them from chattering. She needed to stay strong. The night was only going to get colder, after all, and she didn't need to favorite admirer to think she was weak.

Ten minutes passed. The temperature plummeted further. Dipper was still holding out ok, but Wendy was so frozen by now that she couldn't feel her fingers. Being skinny had its major disadvantages, she realized too late. She stared across the makeshift tent again to where the tiny boy next to her rested. He still didn't look any closer to falling asleep.

Twenty minutes. Wendy's teeth had started to chatter. The goosebumps on her arms were so numerous by now that her skin felt like a toad's. All the feeling in her toes, despite her socks, were officially gone. She wanted to take down one of the sleeping bags and crawl inside, but she didn't want any animals or monsters to get them.

Thirty minutes. The lumberjack girl was growing as desperate as a half-frozen fifteen year-old could be. The tree didn't provide much warmth, and she had pulled her wet flannel around her as tightly as possible. She had even removed her trademark hat, using her incredibly thick hair to cover her ears, and tried to keep her exposed hands warm with it. She was centimeters from just reaching over and pulling Dipper against her like a ragdoll, but she had a bit more respect than that.

Thirty five minutes had passed when Wendy realized that her breathing was starting to speed up uncontrollably. Every shallow breath just made her lose more heat, and her heart rate was beginning to soar as well. She'd read about hypothermia on the internet before, and knew all about prolonged exposure and symptoms. The slow, icy gusts of wind that passed through the holes in the tent and around her bare lower arms weren't helping her case at all.

Forty five minutes and she couldn't take it anymore. Wendy very slowly moved across the fifteen centimeters that separated her from Dipper and tapped his subdued body with a hand. He stirred and looked up at her, the minuscule amount of light filtering through the holes in the ceiling reflecting on his eyes.

"Um…" she whispered in a hoarse voice. Her brain was working so slowly. "Uh… can I... Just, you know, sleep here?"

Dipper stared at her for a moment, a look of surprise and slight worry on his face. She heard the pine needles shifting as he moved his hand over to her arm, instantly flinching back as he felt how cold she was. He obviously knew what was going on. She wasn't trying to get comfortable, she was literally losing body heat so fast that she needed to be near him for survival purposes.

"Uh, sure," he replied, his teeth clacking together. Wendy felt a prick of relief knowing she wasn't the only one with a problem with the temperature. However, she hesitated, worrying that he would be uncomfortable. He seemed to notice her anxiety and quickly added, "It's fine."

Finally settled with the confirmation, Wendy slowly crawled over to where Dipper was huddled in a ball. She slowly lowered herself to the ground, wrapping her arms sluggishly around the tiny boy. Warmth spread throughout her entire body as she cuddled up against his back. He was far more comforting than she expected, as his skin seemed to radiate the wonderful heat itself.

She couldn't help but let out a sigh of contentment as she snuggled her face into his hair. He seemed surprised at how relaxed she was, but quickly brushed it off and let himself go limp. The lumberjack was still in awe of how he managed to maintain his warmth, especially with bare arms. Soon, she found herself drifting off into sleep, listening to the sound of her friend's breathing.

Wendy's sleep was full of fragmented dreams; flashes of warmth and cold, drowning in rivers she couldn't see, clouds turning into mighty spirits and pouring deathly water down upon her. As soon as she would think that she had one, it would slip away and a new and more confusing one would take its place. Her head was spinning, and as the night wore on, she felt as though she were losing all feeling in her body. However, as she approached dawn, she began to hear a faraway voice calling her name.

"_Wendy… Wendy…_"

"Ugh… Yeah?" she muttered, squinting. There was a bright light shining above her, stinging her eyes. She reached a hand up and tried to shield them, only to find the blinding brightness seemed to burn through her fingers.

"_Wendy!_"

The lumberjack felt a sharp, stinging pain in her arm and jerked her body upwards. Black slammed down around her, except for where someone was shining a tiny keychain flashlight onto her face. Wendy let out a low moan and fumbled around, accidently hitting herself with her hand. She recognized the person with the light as Dipper.

A loud sigh of relief echoed through the makeshift den. "Oh… Oh thank god, you're ok," the boy whispered, dropping the light into his lap. The next moment, she felt his almost painfully warm arms around her in a tight hug.

"C'mon, get offa me," she mumbled, trying to move. Her limbs just didn't seem to want to go the right way at the moment. She smacked the tree she had been leaning against and her leg before she finally managed to get a hold of Dipper's vest. Surprisingly, though, she didn't feel as though she had the strength to push him away.

A look of concern overcame the boy's face. "Wendy, you're really, really cold," he murmured, touching her wrist. "And it's hard to feel your pulse."

"I'll... be fine," she responded, slightly slurring her words. Why did she feel so tired? She had just gotten quite a bit of sleep. Surely she should have more energy than this?

"Wendy, I think you have hypothermia," Dipper fretted.

"I don't have… have… hypothermia…" the lumberjack denied, shivering violently. "I'm… totally fine… just go and… get some breakfast… I'm hungry…"

Dipper, however, wasn't listening. He had left the tent, and she could hear the sounds of his footsteps receding into the woods. _Maybe he wouldn't mind if I took a little nap while he was away_, Wendy thought to herself, licking her slightly blue lips. _I am awfully tired_…

Before she could properly carry out the thought, her younger friend burst back into the tent with a small book in hand. It wasn't that ratty old journal he was always carrying around, but a smaller paperback guide of some sort. The boy held up the flashlight and started flicking through the pages, muttering under his breath, "Hypothermia… hypothermia… hypothermia treatment…"

Wendy tried to tell him once again that she most certainly did not have hypothermia, but the boy managed to beat her to it. "Ah, found it!" He stopped on a page completely filled with text, his eyes scanning over the documents the way an eagle would watch a mouse. Did he really read that fast, or was he just skimming? He probably wasn't, considering the way his face went from determined to uncomfortable to fearful. He finished the page and sat up, moving over to where his friend was kneeling and to her surprise, reached for her flannel.

"Gah, Dip, whataya doing?" she asked, swatting his hands away. However, the boy was not deterred.

"Your flannel's soaking wet," Dipper replied. "It's making you colder."

"I'm not... cold," Wendy weakly insisted, though ceasing her feeble attempts to stop him. The young detective folded the flannel up and placed it at the edge of the makeshift tent, glancing back at the book. He looked up at the sleeping bag ceiling and shook his head, standing up to undo the strings holding it together.

"It's almost dawn anyway," he reassured himself as one sleeping bag was detached. He tugged the fabric down before removing his vest and crawling over to where Wendy was sitting. However, he hesitated, his entire expression changing into an awkward one. Shifting from foot to foot, he announced, "Ok, so I kind of have to share body heat with you. Um, that ok?"

"Fine," the girl replied, closing her eyes. "Just... lemme sleep…"

"No!" The loud command jarred Wendy out of her attempted dozing. "You can't fall asleep! You're going to get sicker!" The boy was frantic, his eyes wide with fright and worry. For the first time since she had woken up, Wendy felt a pang of anxiety in return.

"Ok, Dip," she mumbled, lifting an arm and allowing him to snuggle up against her skinny body. He pulled the heavy sleeping bag over both of them and wrapped his arms around Wendy's midsection, much the way she had done to him last night. She could feel the incredible warmth through his shirt. It was so soothing, so relaxing. She was definitely going to have a hard time staying awake.

Meanwhile, the boy had picked up the book again and gazed back over the page he was on, tiny flashlight in hand. Without letting go of his friend, he grabbed one corner of the sleeping bag and tugged it underneath them both. Wendy stared at him blankly until he started to zip up the zipper, pulling the dry walls of the bag around them like a cocoon. When he reached the top, he pulled a piece of string out of his pack and tied the tiny bit of metal in place, so that the sleeping bag wouldn't unzip accidentally.

"Dip…" Wendy found herself asked, her voice very quiet. "What happens if I fall asleep?"

Dipper turned back towards her, dropping the book and letting his arm retreat back into the sleeping bag. As large as the cocoon of warmth was, his arms were limited to the options of being pinned to his sides or wrapped around Wendy. He chose the latter, finally seeming to acknowledge her question. His expression was a mixture of sad and uneasy.

"You probably won't wake up," he answered after a moment, his words barely more than a breath. Wendy shivered, not from cold this time. She knew exactly what he meant.

The two lay in a lukewarm bundle until the gray light from behind the clouds blanketed the landscape. It was obvious Dipper was trying not to fidget as they grew more and more exposed in the light, but his friend remained limp and exhausted. Her eyes had grown dull despite the warmth of the boy cuddled up next to her, her entire frame nearly lifeless. Her skin had gone a reddish-pale color that nearly screamed her condition out to the whole world. Dipper felt terribly alone. For the first time ever, he was seeing his friend both physically and mentally vulnerable, in need of care. He was almost in shock.

A cold wind blew through the bleak area, the light from the sky making it feel all the more colder. Wendy moved for the first time in hours, clenching his arms and letting her teeth chatter. He tightened his grip around her in hope it would start to bring the health back to her icy skin.

"I'm hungry," she murmured, pushing her freezing cold nose into his hair and shifting a bit. "I think… we have granola bars… in the bag."

Relieved that her ability to speak seemed to be returning, the young detective nodded. "I could go out and get them-"

"No, no, stay here," Wendy mumbled. "I'm… not that hungry. I can wait."

"Ok," Dipper replied. He could ignore the gnawing pain of hunger in his stomach a little while longer, surely. He blushed as his stomach rumbled in protest. However, for the first time in around twenty four hours, Wendy chuckled loudly.

"Maybe you should… try to catch something," she suggested, slowly relaxing her body again. "You… obviously need to eat."

"Only when you say you're warm enough," he replied, feeling his ears grow hot. Survival could prove to be a bit more embarrassing than he had previously thought. The lumberjack seemed to contemplate his words, her dull eyes narrowing a bit.

"A few more minutes," she decided, leaning into him and closing her eyes. Dipper nodded in agreement and stared up into the brightening sky. With the plan made, he echoed her words.

"A few more minutes it is."

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><p><strong>AN: And I have finally picked up this story again! Dude, Dragon Pines took way longer than I thought it would. If you haven't read it already, please go do so. **

**Just so you guys know, I did use a website to find out the symptoms of mild and moderate hypothermia, I didn't know all this on my own. Also, next chapter probably won't be as fluffy, (or my crude idea of fluffy, anyway,) but it will have slightly more action and humor. Until then, peace out, and please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Mountains**

**Chapter Four**

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><p>Of course, it was more than a few more minutes before Dipper finally deemed it safe to leave his best friend alone. Wendy had been straining to stay awake, finally embraced by the warmth she had been denied in the hours of the night. After what felt like around forty five minutes, Dipper finally pulled himself out of the sleeping bag and found his backpack, retreating back with a granola bar. He broke it in half and handed a piece to Wendy, who ate it in one bite.<p>

"You know, I bet we could actually catch something," Wendy mused to herself, licking up a stray piece of granola on her cheek. She was clearly feeling a lot better after the long rest with her friend. She stretched out as much as she could in the sleeping bag and yawned, looking up expectantly at the young detective. The boy snapped up, as though coming out of a daze, and abruptly answered.

"Um, I guess we could," he replied. Now that the lumberjack seemed to rapidly regaining health, the overall awkwardness of what had just happened was kicking in. He averted his eyes and stared down at his pack, beginning to rummage through the various pockets. Wendy sat up in her sleeping bag and reached out slowly with plans in mind to help him. However, he pulled out his multitool and a coil of rope before she could assist him in the search. "I could make a bow, I guess."

"Yeah, dude, and shoot down a bird!" Wendy encouraged. "I'll stay behind and try to start a fire."

Despite her enthusiasm, Dipper was obviously extremely hesitant. "Um… you sure you're going to be ok?" he asked. "I mean, I could stay here awhile if you wanted…"

Wendy snorted. "I'll be ok, doofus." She reached over and found a pair of flints in his backpack. "Boom! Fire in no time!"

The young detective smiled. He knew that the old, confident Wendy was back. "Ok, but I'm staying here while I make this thing."

The teenager shrugged and settled back into her warm cocoon of blanket. While Dipper started to shape a few sticks into possible arrows, she began to arrange the stones they had gathered earlier in attempt to make a tent into a makeshift firepit. As soon as they were all neatly in a circle, she started to pile kindling on in a cabin shape.

Dipper paused for a moment to observe the lumberjack girl a meter or two away from him. As good as she claimed she felt, there was no doubt in Dipper's mind that her body temperature was still in the danger zone. However, the anxious thoughts were unexpectedly pushed aside as he watched her carefully placing the sticks in her chosen formation. What had looked like clumsy, half-hearted building at first glance now was revealed to be a complex task, which she was clearly very good at. Years of camping with her family were definitely paying off.

Wendy's gaze snapped up, and Dipper immediately focused back onto sharpening the end of a stick he had recovered. Gosh, he really hadn't gotten over her at all. She still looked just as beautiful, even when she was shivering slightly and looked drowsy enough to sleep for a week. He hated keeping her awake, but the risk of her falling into a permanent state of unconsciousness was too great at the moment.

The young detective pulled a string from his pack and tied it around a strong, curved stick he had found, making a sort of bow that he could use once he fashioned the arrows correctly. Admittedly he didn't have any feathers in there, but the remains of a box of Chipackers should do the trick. He ripped them into the most feathery shape he could and started tying them onto the ends of the multiple arrows, placing his multi tool beside Wendy's firepit.

Soon, he had a makeshift but functional set of arrows and a bow. They looked pathetic compared to what he could make with better supplies, but they would have to do. Wendy was doing far better, though. She had actually ventured out of her sleeping bag to collect a few larger sticks, though quickly retreating back into the soft warmth to assemble them.

He hesitated as he realized that he had finished his task. If he wanted to get them some substantial food before night time, he would have to set out now and leave his hypothermic best friend behind. Reluctance filled him, and he took a deep breath before making the announcement.

"Um… I promise I'll be back really soon," Dipper declared, trying to sound confident but coming out uneasy. "I, uh, should be going out to hunt now."

"Ok," Wendy replied cheerfully, though he could detect some concern in her voice. She pulled out the two flints and started to hit them together, cursing under her breath when a shower of sparks failed to catch her kindling on fire. As he turned to leave, she added, "Bring back something big, dude!"

The young detective gave her an encouraging grin before retreating into the dark forest. As soon as she was out of sight, he sighed. "We're doomed."

Despite this negative conclusion, he wasn't going to give up without a fight. With his four arrows stuck into his vest and bow held at his side, he set off into the woods. He could hear the birds chirping high above and grumbled, "If you weren't out of reach, you'd be dinner by now."

Eventually, the young detective reached a stream. He contemplated the option of shooting a fish before deciding that none of them would be a sufficient meal. However, the birdsong was louder now, and he jumped a bit as a squirrel sped through the woods ahead of him. Prey was plentiful here, and with this amount of life he was sure to capture something by nightfall. Happy with this conclusion, the boy settled down and began to cogitate his options.

The squirrels, despite the vast amount of them, were obviously too fast for him to go with, he decided. A bird was a far better choice, and if he waited long enough, one would surely feel brave enough to come within range of his homemade bow. He would probably have better chances with some sort of camouflage, though.

Dipper kneeled down at the creek bed and picked up a handful of thick, dripping mud. The stuff was dense enough for sticking, but wet enough for smearing. He started to coat his arms and legs with the sludge, ignoring the disgusting stench. If it meant catching Wendy and himself food, then he would be comfortable with mud a thousand times more smelly than this.

When the grime had dried enough for him to move around, he chose a hiding place at the foot of a huge pine tree and covered himself with fallen leaves. He probably looked enough like the forest floor by now to be approached by a bird. With this in mind, he drew an arrow from his pack and nocked it, waiting for his prey to arrive.

A few minutes had passed before Dipper heard a curious tramping noise from the other bank of the stream. At first he dismissed it as a rabbit or a squirrel, but he realized as it got closer that the animal was far, far larger than what he had originally expected. Fearing the supernatural, he drew himself further into the leafy camouflage and prayed that it wouldn't see him.

A few more footsteps and the eyes of the young boy widened. A large doe was just a few feet away from him, grazing upon the shrubs by the side of the spring. He started to feel his heart pounding against his ribcage. There was nearly a week's worth of meals on this thing. If he managed to bring it down, then he and Wendy wouldn't have to worry about starving anymore and could concentrate further on getting home.

The doe took a few more steps. Dipper waited, feeling the blood roar in his ears as it came closer to him. He needed the timing to be perfect. One wrong move could mean not eating tonight, and with Wendy's current condition and his worsening one, that could be fatal.

One more step and Dipper decided it was time. He burst from the leaves and fired an arrow, which barely missed the doe's chest by inches. The terrified deer let out a screeching noise and ran. The boy gave chase, but he knew it wasn't worth it as the creature disappeared from sight into the woods.

When he could no longer hear or see the doe, the young detective slumped to the ground. The birds, frightened by the sudden appearance of a human, had stopped calling and most certainly wouldn't be down anytime soon. There were no squirrels in sight. If he saw another deer, which was extremely unlikely, he wouldn't be able to make a move with his nerves fried as they were. He let out a sigh and held his face in his hands. _What am I going to tell Wendy_?

Wendy, back at camp, was extremely bored.

She had gotten a fire started in a matter of minutes after Dipper left, and had been keeping it sustained for the past hour. The lumberjack was growing fidgety inside her sleeping bag, with her limbs warm once again and the pins and needles in her legs. She couldn't just stay like this until her younger friend got back, could she? She was warm enough. She could probably get out of here for a few minutes without consequence.

The teen pulled herself from the sleeping bag, flinching a bit at the colder atmosphere and considering getting back in. However, the fire she had created was warm, and she smiled as she held her hands above it and rubbed them eagerly. Her legs felt a bit better now that they had been released from her uncomfortably warm fabric prison. Despite this, boredom would not release her as easily.

Amusement was not found simply in the forest setting. The fire could entertain her for a while, but the teen needed to move around. She didn't care what Dipper said about hypothermia, she was fine now! Honestly, sitting around camp probably was doing worse things to her than the cold was.

A glint of metal in the pale, whitish light of the clouds caught Wendy's attention. It was Dipper's multi tool, lying abandoned in the slightly sandy forest floor. A rebellious thought entered the teen's mind, and a smile spread across her face.

A little extra dinner wasn't going to hurt anyone on this haywire trip. Why not go hunting?

She reached down and took hold of the tool, pulling out the knife portion and admiring it in the faint light. It looked sharp enough to take a life without much pain. The teenager found a small piece of rubber from undeterminable origin on the ground where Dipper had emptied out his pack and stabbed through it with no effort. Yup. Deadly.

The lumberjack cleared out the area around the fire of leaves and brush before starting to crawl out of camp. One hand cradled Dipper's tool tightly, while the other she used for balance. She could feel the lethargy starting to spread again, but she shook it off. She wanted out, and she was going to get out.

The wind whispered in the pines above her and she continued to slither through the underbrush. A shiver ran down her back, and she cursed quietly to herself. That stupid hypothermia had better not be coming back. What she wouldn't give for a ray of sunlight right now. What was up with all these clouds, anyway? Why didn't they just go away after having stormed a pair of campers off a cliff, raining on them until they grew sick and then denying them light as they weakly searched for food?

A loud cracking sound interrupted Wendy's irritated thoughts. She immediately froze, her hand slowly pushing the blade portion of the multi tool out and her eyes frantically scanning the shrubbery around her. She saw movement from above her head as a startled bird took to the air with a loud squawk. The lumberjack sighed. There went a potential piece of nutrition.

Even so, the slightly deterred teen crawled on. With the low hanging branches around her, she was comfortable making her way through the woods on all fours. Besides, this saved energy and allowed her to view the ground more thoroughly, in case a mole or mouse made an appearance. Sure, that would make for a lousy snack, but it would be a snack nethertheless. She had seen Dipper shivering that morning. He was in danger of growing ill as well, no matter what he said.

Wendy found herself once again becoming still as she heard footsteps. Her eyes narrowed, then widened as she heard what sounded like a terrified snorting noise. A huge doe burst from the bushes, scaring the daylights out of the poor teen and speeding away into the dark of the forest. Its eyes were wide with fear, and by the way it held itself the lumberjack was sure it was running from something.

As confused as Wendy was, she couldn't afford to waste another second. There weren't too many predators of deer that would bother humans, so unless a dragon or something popped out of the undergrowth, she would continue to hunt. With this decision in mind, the teen resumed her slow crawling.

It felt like hours before there were any signs of prey again. This time, though, she had different luck.

A flash of fur abruptly burst into Wendy's vision. Without thought and out of pure instinct and reflex, the lumberjack jabbed the knife forward with the speed of a striking snake. As soon as it made contact with the unfortunate prey, Wendy furiously shook the multi tool in hopes that the animal on the receiving end would lose its life quickly. She got her wish as blood trickled onto her hand and the creature slumped to the ground, its identity revealed.

A large rabbit lay dead in front of the starving lumberjack. She stared at it for a second, almost disbelieving. Slowly she drew the knife out of its chest, flicking away droplets of gore and fur. A large rumble from her stomach reminded her why exactly she had just taken a life.

Abruptly the teen let out a loud whoop. "Yes!" she cried, not caring if any other animals were scared away. She had caught something! They would be eating tonight!

With great excitement, Wendy cleaned the knife off on her jeans and stuffed the blade portion back into the tool. With the object safely stored in her pocket, she lifted up the rabbit by its now-broken neck and looked it over with elation. There was a fair amount of meat on the animal's bones, and it seemed to be in good health. The hungry girl was tempted to just take a bite out of the animal right there and then. It looked like a tender steak.

She rose to her feet, wobbling a little bit on her shaky legs and cradling her prey against her chest. The teen followed the small trail of disturbed brush and sandy ground before spotting the fire in the distance. Stumbling, she increased her speed and leaped back into the campsite, grateful to see their dwindling supplies once again.

Wendy found a particularly thick stick and sharpened it a bit with the multi tool before sticking it through the rabbit. Sure, she had to admit she found the sight of the guts through the punctured abdominal wall a bit gross, but this was food. She could handle a little grossness if it meant eating.

With the rabbit now safely roasting over the fire, Wendy placed Dipper's tool back next to his sleeping bag and settled down on top of her own. Now, all she needed to do was wait for her friend to return.

However, this proved to be a bit more trying than she had expected. It had to be several hours after noon when she finally heard the sound of sticks crunching outside of camp. She tensed, briefly fearful of being discovered by a predator, and relaxed when she heard a human grunt of slight pain. Dipper stumbled through the bushes. To the lumberjack's worry, though, he seemed to be incredibly upset.

"I failed," the boy announced outright, hanging his head and letting his pack slide down from his shoulders. She could see him shivering with cold before noticing a few mud streaks on his arms. As much as she wanted to know where those had come from, she felt as though she needed to show him what she had found first.

Wendy chuckled. "Yeah, but we can still eat," she smiled. As the young detective looked up, she gestured at the smoking rabbit over the fire. "I went out and got it while you were gone."

Dipper stared at her with disbelief. He opened his mouth a few times in shock, seemingly unable to speak, but a huge grin started to spread across his face. "W-wow!" he finally replied. For a moment, a look of slight disapproval came over him. "But… but you're sick."

"Just because I'm sick doesn't mean I can't catch us food, dude," she defended, giving him a playful punch in the arm. "Come on, don'tcha want to eat?"

The younger boy opened his mouth, seemingly about to continue to tell her off for hunting, but his stomach rumbled loudly before he could speak. His cheeks turned red and the look of weak amusement returned. "Uh, sure!"

The lumberjack girl smiled and pulled the stick from the fire, quickly blowing out the flames coating a few places on the slightly damp wood. The rabbit was vastly overcooked, but neither seemed to care much as they ravenously began to tear pieces from the prey. Dipper gnawed on a leg furiously, gulping down the meat despite the fact that it was nearly all blackened and charred with a burnt taste.

Wendy picked up Dipper's multi tool and sliced open the rabbit's chest further, cutting deliberately through muscle and flesh and pulling out large pieces of meat. The ones that were still raw she placed on the stones that were nearest to the fire, while the cooked ones she rapidly ate. As she managed to retrieve a large cut of meat from one of the thighs, she instead offered it to her hungry friend.

"Um, no, you should eat it," Dipper declined quickly. "I mean, you kind of need the strength and all…"

Wendy rolled her eyes. "Dude, I have like the rest of the rabbit to eat. I'll be fine. You, on the other hand, look like you're starving over there."

Nodding in reluctant agreement, the young detective took the slice of meat and started to chew it slowly, as though a bit annoyed with his friend's insistence. The teenager wasn't fooled, though. She could see the look of pure enjoyment on the younger boy's face as he consumed the delicious piece of flesh.

Soon, the two were chewing and licking the bones of what had been the rabbit. A few pieces of jerky-like meat were still crisping up in the fire, but they were quickly eaten by the lost kids. Wendy licked her lips as she crushed a bone between her teeth, tasting the marrow that dripped out of the end. It was interesting, how they could seemingly make the remains of the kill last quite a bit longer than they had intended.

Finally, the thing was gone.

Dipper lay on his back and closed his eyes, wiping a little bit of blood off his face with a disturbed look. The fact that they had killed and eaten a rabbit was beginning to sink in, now that their hunger had been sated. Wendy looked mildly uncomfortable as she settled beside the boy, resting her hands on her belly and staring up at the gray sky.

"I think I found out where our old campsite is," Dipper announced, breaking the silence. Wendy cracked a smile. He returned her expression thankfully before replacing it with a frown. "The problem is that we were hiking the wrong direction yesterday. We need to go east, not south."

"Aw man," Wendy moaned. "I can't believe we didn't notice that!"

"Well, we just have to hope we don't make any more mistakes when we try to go back tomorrow," Dipper sighed. "We should be able to spend the night here." In a lower tone he added, "It had better not get cold again."

The lumberjack nodded in agreement before reaching out and patting her buddy on the shoulder awkwardly. "Kind of hard to believe we just got here almost two days ago," she remarked. "It feels like it's been weeks."

The young detective beside her curled up slightly, resting his head in the crook of her arm. "No kidding," he mused, scratching his head. "Let's just hope we can get back tomorrow without any problems."

Wendy nodded. "Agreed."

The two lay in silence, gazing up into the darkening sky. Wendy almost laughed when she realized her smaller companion was dozing off, seemingly soothed by the food in his belly and his best friend resting beside him. She poked his shoulder a few times to make sure he stayed awake. They still needed to set up for the night. They still needed to survive another day in the mysterious wilderness of Gravity Falls.

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><p><strong>AN: And that's chapter four! Holy crap, we only have one more update and this story's going to be finished! (Sadly that update's probably going to be in the new year… I have to go on a trip and it's going to be really hard to write…)**

**Well, I'm probably not going to get that Christmas oneshot up in time, but it will go up eventually. I have a chest cold at the moment, so my original idea for a romantic drabble was scrapped and I've created a more humorous, more dark, and far, FAR more original idea. Hope you guys will get the chance to read that. Until then, peace out!**


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